Systems and methods for financial planning using animation

ABSTRACT

CiFiCo (Cinematic Financial Concepts) simplifies finance concept by taking information and “cinematizing” it into fun, simple, engaging, moving visual representations (aka “movies”) accompanied by sound and touch control. Movies contain various assets, incomes, and insurance, as well as intergenerational timelines. CiFiCo can demonstrate the impact of asset accumulation, distribution, taxes, insurance, investments, intergenerational transfers, and other concepts. The tool allows individuals to gain a unique perspective on how the financial decisions they make (past, present and future) can impact their overall financial picture (movie). CiFiCo can illustrate and factor for contributions and distributions, as well as risks or attacks that may draw against one&#39;s financial stability (e.g., death, disabilities, long term care costs, lawsuits, natural disasters, market volatility, etc.). The application can illustrate a single financial concept, compare several financial strategies, or portray a fully integrated, multi-generational, financial plan.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/443,661, filed Feb. 16, 2011, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The technical field of this invention is financial planning using animation.

On any given day, there are millions of business meetings and presentations, most of which involve the movement of money. Party A is trying to communicate, teach or sell some financial idea to party B. The traditional methods of communicating this information are through the use of pie charts, diagrams, spreadsheets and other motionless data.

There are an infinite number of non-animated methods to present financial concepts, most of them being static charts and graphs. This causes apathy, confusion, and wastes time and money.

In partnership with Survey Monkey, the inventors polled 500 members of the U.S. population, in an effort to gauge the need for animated financial software to assist with understanding financial concepts. After seeing a demonstration of this invention, the survey participants were asked a series of questions. There was no incentive for completing the survey. The following data was extracted from the study:

-   -   1 out of every 2 members of the general public said they find it         difficult to understand financial concepts.     -   99% of the general public stated that animated financial         software would simplify the communication of financial concepts         and strategies.

Having verified the need and market for this invention, the inventors, who are financial planners and have worked in the field for over a decade, developed software that provides a dynamic, personalized, and non-static method with which to better educate and advise individuals and businesses with regard to financial concepts. The software is called “CiFiCo,” or “Cinematic Financial Concepts.”

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Through the creation of one simple animated visual language, CiFiCo will reduce the mass confusion typically associated with the relation of financial concepts, saving time and money and better educating those seeking financial recommendations and advice.

When loaded onto any computer, the CiFiCo software takes dull, complex information and “cinematizes” it into fun, simple, engaging, moving visual representations (aka “movies”) accompanied by sound and touch control. The user has complete control over every aspect of this virtual world.

After the user answers a brief series of questions, CiFiCo instantly generates an animated representation (movie) of their financial world. Movies contain various assets, incomes, and insurance, as well as intergenerational timelines. These concepts are illustrated with the use of a defined and user-friendly set of abstract characters, as seen in the incorporated drawings. This allows the user to quickly and clearly communicate a particular concept or a variety of concepts.

CiFiCo can demonstrate the impact of asset accumulation, distribution, taxes, insurance, investments, intergenerational transfers, and countless other concepts. The tool allows individuals to gain a unique perspective on how the financial decisions they make (past, present and future) can impact their overall financial picture (movie).

CiFiCo can illustrate and factor for contributions and distributions, as well as risks or attacks that may draw against someone's financial stability (e.g. death, disabilities, long term care costs, lawsuits, natural disasters, market volatility, etc.). The application can illustrate a single financial concept, compare several financial strategies, or portray a fully integrated, multi-generational, financial plan. Any financial concept, philosophy, or strategy can be communicated using CiFiCo—creating instant understanding for even the most non-finance oriented individuals.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 illustrate a set of abstract characters and graphics used to animate CiFiCo's movies.

FIG. 3 illustrates five user types that the application currently accommodates.

FIG. 4 illustrates default abilities that all users (General Users) will have.

FIG. 5 shows the functional areas to which CiFiCo Support Administrators will have access.

FIG. 6 shows the functional areas to which CiFiCo Representatives (e.g. sales agents) will have access.

FIG. 7 shows the functional areas to which Volume License Administrators will have access.

FIG. 8 shows the functional areas to which Volume License General Users will have access.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating an example pre-defined user path that a user may follow.

FIGS. 10-33 are example screen shots showing a sample animation in one embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 illustrate a set of abstract characters and graphics used to animate CiFiCo's movies. The numbers in the figures are used to indicate specific characters used in the software, as follows:

Item 1 shows Meridian—A line that travels through the center of all Asset Tanks during movie playback. These lines help users identify the current place in time on a specific timeline.

Item 2 shows Wealth Protection Membrane—An entity and barrier (e.g. giant “force field”), that represents how well protected an Asset Tank is from potential risks, WEF (Wealth Eroding Factor) attacks or financial downturn. If an entity has little protection it is represented as a thin, barely visible line; an entity with maximum protection would see a thick, glowing, healthy line surrounding their Asset Tanks and Timeline.

Item 3 shows Pool—A visual representation of the sums of ongoing values as a movie plays—pools get larger or smaller as their calculated values change. Pools can be customized, (e.g. Tax bubbles flow to “tax pools,” WEFs (Wealth Eroding Factors) flow towards WEF pools, lifestyle spending flows to “lifestyle pools,” and the value of money distributed to others, flows to “legacy pools.”

Item 4 shows Assets Tanks—Orbs filled with money that represent one or more accounts or assets. For example: nest egg, real estate, life insurance, business interests, etc. These orbs are able to expand, contract, explode, melt into each other, divide into any fraction, as well as change in texture/permeability and color.

Item 5 shows Tax Membrane—Visual entities that Asset Tanks and Money Bubbles pass through at specified times during a movie's playback. This membrane shrinks Asset Tanks and Money Bubbles according to tax implications set by the user. The overall severity of this membrane is linked to its thickness, length, and color.

Item 6 shows Tax Bubble—A visual representation of taxes directed towards a tax pool. These entities are directly related to a specific account and a Tax Membrane.

Item 7 shows Money Bubble—A visual representation of the sum of money moving to beneficiaries, Income Rivers, Asset Tanks, pools, etc.

Item 8 shows Secondary Values—A visual representation of the sum of a secondary value [e.g. A home with mortgage may have a market value and an equity value (equity value being the secondary value.) A life insurance policy having a death benefit value and a cash value (cash value being the secondary value.)]

Item 9 shows Feeders—Tubes that connect and pump money from a specific timeline into a respective Asset Tank. These tubes can appear or disappear from the timeline. The value of the money passing through the feeder is displayed.

Item 10 shows Drainers—Visually similar to “Feeders,” these “tubes” work in the opposite direction—sucking money from a respective Asset Tank. They are often connected to a specific Wealth Eroding Factor (WEF). The value of the money passing through the drainer is displayed.

Item 11 shows Wealth Eroding Factors (WEFs)—Evil looking and acting entities that attack assets at the user's discretion, and drain them of their wealth. Based on the user's selections, WEFs can also attack income, contribution, and distribution streams.

Item 12 shows Traveling Wealth Protection Membrane—A visual entity and barrier that appears in front of an Asset Tank as it encounters a WEF. This membrane only appears if a WEF-specific defense has been designated and it will shrink or disappear according to its defensive qualities (e.g. a 100 k liability policy will disappear if it blocks a 100 k lawsuit.).

Item 13 shows Income River—This entity acts like a controlled river of money, which is directly related to an entity's income. The Income River animates the cash flow or income.

Item 14 shows Sub Tanks—Orbs filled with money that are contained within asset tanks. Used to separate different assets within asset tanks.

Item 15 shows Debt Tank—Orbs filled with money that represent one or more items of debt.

Item 16 shows Primary Timeline—The timeline that is primarily being used or focused on.

Item 17 shows Secondary Timelines—The timelines that represent alternate entities lifespan, often used to show ones parents, children or grandchildren. Often referred to as generational timelines.

Item 18 shows Movie Control Panel—A series of buttons on the movie screen that give the user the control and freedom to pause, rewind, fast-forward, zoom-in, zoom-out and experience the movie in many ways.

Visiting the site and viewing the demo is the ideal way to view the animated features and will help to understand CiFiCo software. The link is: http://dev.ego7.com/cifico/cifico_main.html (spaces in the links are inserted to disable embedding of a hyperlink in the document as required by the USPTO rules).

After the user answers a brief series of fact finding questions the CiFiCo application will instantly generate an animated representation (movie) of the financial world. Movies will contain various assets, incomes, and insurance, as well as intergenerational timelines. This will allow the user to quickly and clearly communicate a particular concept or a variety of concepts. The user will be able to demonstrate the impact of asset accumulation, distribution, taxes, insurance, investments, intergenerational transfers, and countless other concepts. The tool will allow individuals to get a unique perspective on how financial decisions they make (both in the present and future) can impact their overall financial picture (movie). CiFiCo can illustrate and factor for contributions and distributions, as well as “attacks” that may draw against someone's financial stability (e.g. death, disabilities, long term care costs, lawsuits, natural disaster, market volatility, etc.). The application can illustrate a single financial concept, compare several financial strategies, or portray a fully integrated, multi-generational, financial plan. Any financial concept, philosophy, or strategy can be communicated using CiFiCo. FIGS. 10-33 are example screen shots showing a sample animation in one embodiment of the present disclosure. The animation in one embodiment is rendered as 3-dimensional (3-D) visualization with 3-D graphical characters or elements.

The following User Flow & Process Models provide, in detail, the various data paths involved in the CiFiCo application. Specific models are developed for individual user types to identify decision points, data entry opportunities, and other various aspects of the application. The information included below only identifies the top-level abilities of each user type and does not get into application- or screen-specific functions.

As shown in FIG. 3, the application currently accommodates five (5) specific user types, including:

-   -   General Users     -   CiFiCo Support Administrators     -   CiFiCo Representatives     -   Volume License Administrators     -   Volume License General Users

FIG. 4 illustrates default abilities that all users (General Users) will have. FIG. 5 shows the functional areas to which CiFiCo Support Administrators will have access. FIG. 6 shows the functional areas to which CiFiCo Representatives (e.g. sales agents) will have access. FIG. 7 shows the functional areas to which Volume License Administrators will have access. FIG. 8 shows the functional areas to which Volume License General Users will have access.

The following User Experience Personas provides an overview of the common and distinct user types and personas relevant to the CiFiCo application.

The CiFiCo user base consists of four (4) distinct user types. The four (4) distinct user types include: (a) Beginning User; (b) Basic User; (c) Advanced User; (d) Super User.

It is assumed that users will progress through the user ranks (starting with Beginning User and advancing to Super User) as their comfort level increases. A direct correlation can be made between a user's comfort level and the total number of movies they have created—the more movies a user creates, the more comfortable they are with the application; the more comfortable they are with the application, the more they are willing to “experiment” with additional application variables and actions. The overall level of comfort is assumed to follow the schedule below:

-   -   Beginning User—1-3 movies created     -   Basic User—4-10 movies created     -   Advanced User—11-20 movies created     -   Super User—more than 20 movies created

Finally, it is also assumed that most users will remain in the Beginning User/Basic User category, regardless of the total number of movies they have created or their overall comfort level with the application. This is because we assume 85-90% of all users will always look for the easiest and most direct way to create a client movie; entering the minimum amount of data necessary to produce an effective movie—one in which they can open or further a dialog between themselves and their client.

Beginning User: Beginning Users will use the basic functions of the application and often stay to the predefined user path we set to enter different variables, rarely straying from the required elements necessary to produce their first few movies. These users will probably not enter more than one (1) or two (2) ‘Prior’ or ‘Next’ generation members. They are mostly just testing out the functionality of the application and trying to determine their level commitment to CiFiCo and whether or not they will incorporate it into their day-to-day operations. These users will rarely edit or create a new movie in front of a client and may require help and/or assistance from time-to-time. The Beginning User may try one (1) or two (2) WEFs, but will not experiment beyond the common types. These users will spend no more than 5-7 minutes on a single movie.

Basic User: Basic Users are those users who have developed a few movies and have an understanding of the steps necessary to create a client movie, but do not fully understand all of subtle nuances of the application. These users are starting to experiment with editing existing movies and adding multiple ‘Prior’, ‘Next’, and ‘Lower’ generation members, but are not tapped into the application's full potential. These users will also experiment with different types of Nest Egg Accounts, but don't fully understand the power of a Miscellaneous Account or the fully abilities of the ‘Master Ins & Outs’. The Basic User may insert a few different WEFs, but will typically leave them to the most common types. The user may attempt to edit a movie in front of a client, but do so with limited success. These users will spend an average of 5-10 minutes preparing a single movie.

Advanced User: Advanced Users have created multiple movies, edited a few existing ones, and may have experimented with duplicating techniques. The Advanced User understands the various controls found throughout the application and has found success in following our pre-defined user path as well as their own actions, but has not yet tapped into the power of the Narrate function, or the subtle controls found throughout the application, including the Volatility Meter, color modifications on the movie player, zoom and selective zoom controls, and other user preferences. The Advanced User will begin to use some of the advanced controls, included Amortization Tables, Table Entries, and Reverse Mortgage Calculators, but has not yet mastered them. Advanced Users will find it easy to create a movie in under 2 minutes. These users will spend an average of 5-10 minutes preparing a movie and another 5 minutes tweaking various aspects on a final playback. Advanced Users will also begin to experiment with the ‘Narrate’ controls and spend time editing existing movies with this “new” feature.

Super User: The Super User has mastered the various controls, inputs, and preferences the application offers to create a movie and edit or narrate an existing movie. The user will have full understanding of the cause-and-effect relationships between various input controls found throughout the application and begin to make conscious decisions ahead of time, before they place them into the application. These users have started to use some of the advanced controls, included Amortization Tables, Table Entries, and Reverse Mortgage Calculators, but have not defined their own application and/or movie defaults. Super Users will find it easy to create a movie in under 2 minutes. These users will spend an average of 5 minutes setting their application and/or movie defaults, 5-10 minutes preparing a movie and another 5-10 minutes tweaking various aspects on a final playback.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating an example pre-defined user path that a user may follow. All user types, with the exception of administrative users, will be required to follow one of several pre-defined user paths, as shown in FIG. 9.

The following are example user personas that illustrate how the CiFiCo software can serve various user types in diverse situations.

Stephen P.

Insurance agent from St. Paul, Minn.; looking to find a better way to show future planning methods to existing and potential clients.

Target Audience: U.S. and International Financial Advisors, Registered Representatives, and Insurance Agents Audience Type: Beginning User

“I'm new to the insurance and investment business and not all that comfortable with computers or E-mail—I'm getting better but only on the advisement of management. I read about CiFiCo in an industry publication and it looks like a tool that I may be able to use to help my clients understand how to best invest and diversify their money. I know once they understand these concepts, they'll implement my product suggestions.”

“To be honest, I've never been a fan of complicated computer programs—I think Microsoft Outlook looks like an incredibly difficult computer program. I'm looking for guidance on what I have to do and enter to create a movie for my clients and I need things spelled out in plain English.”

Will [often] do the following:

-   -   Spend between 5-10 minutes on their first attempt at logging in         and creating their first client movie.     -   Use the application's preset defaults to enter most, if not all,         inputs throughout the entire application, including Income, Age,         and Retirement Age.     -   Input a Focus Generation family and one (1) or two (2) Prior         and/or Next Generation members, but rarely more.     -   Create one (1) or two (2) Nest Egg Accounts, one (1) Primary         Real Estate Account, one (1) or two (2) Life Insurance Policies,         and one (1) or two (2) Debt Accounts.     -   Keep WEFs to the application defaults.

Karen L.

Certified Public Accountant from San Francisco, Calif.; looking for a Web-based tool to help her explain certain tax implications and financial planning aspects to her current client, and impress upon them the importance of proper tax strategy implementation.

Target Audience: U.S. and International Legal Professionals and Accountants Audience Type: Basic User

“During tax season many of my clients ask me what they can do differently in the coming years to guarantee themselves more money year-over-year. A lot of my clients have a few different CDs, Brokerage Accounts, and other “smaller” liquid accounts. I'd like to show them how other products may protect their money from possible life changing events, like disability.”

“I've used CiFiCo a few times and created a few different movies. I'm still learning as I go here. I want to make sure I add the necessary information to give my clients a complete view of their financial story, but I want to start showing them, in real-time [face-to-face], how subtle changes to certain accounts can have long-lasting effects on their overall financial stability. I think this is a powerful tool if I can show them while they're sitting in my office.”

Will [often] do the following:

-   -   Use the application's preset defaults to enter most, if not all,         inputs throughout the entire application, including Income, Age,         and Retirement Age.     -   Input a Focus Generation family and several Prior, Next, and         Lower Generation members.     -   Experiment with most of the fields found in the Family Tree.     -   Create numerous Nest Egg Accounts, a single Primary Real Estate         Account, one (1) or two (2) Life Insurance Policies, and Debt         Accounts.     -   Keep WEFs to the application defaults, but turn on/off several         other WEFs to see their affect on a movie.     -   Edit a movie in front of a client.

Courtney M.

Nurse from Polk City, Iowa; head-of-the-household and trying to manage her family's income and debts; looking for a tool that will help her plan for the future and show her how the financial decisions she makes today has an effect on her opportunities in the future.

Target Audience: U.S. and International Public Interest Groups: General Public Audience Type: Basic User

“I saw an ad for CiFiCo while watching the news this morning. We're expecting our first child in a few months and I'm concerned with having enough money to cover daycare, medical expenses, and eventually their college and our retirement. CiFiCo looks pretty and easy-to-use!”

“My husband and I have dreams we would eventually like to obtain, but we're also realists. We're still in debt from our student loans, and we just bought our first home—it's a townhouse just outside of town. We know that we don't have a lot of money to put aside, but I'd love it if CiFiCo could help us show us how to manage what we have right now and plan for the future.”

Will [often] do the following:

-   -   Spend between 5-10 minutes on their first attempt at logging in         and creating their first client movie.     -   Input a Focus Generation family and several Prior, Next, and         Lower Generation members.     -   Experiment with most of the fields found in the Family Tree.     -   Create numerous Nest Egg Accounts, a single Primary Real Estate         Account, one (1) or two (2) Life Insurance Policies, and Debt         Accounts.     -   Keep WEFs to the application defaults, but turn on/off several         other WEFs to see their affect on a movie.     -   Develop several movies to play-out different financial         scenarios.

Mitchell C.

Registered financial consultant from the City of Westminster, London, UK; typical clients include high net-worth individuals; looking for a financial tool that can account for numerous types of accounts, policies, and other financial products when he attempts to show a client the total view of their financial strength and possible vulnerabilities.

Target Audience: U.S. and International Financial Advisors, Registered Representatives, and Insurance Agents Audience Type: Advanced User

“Most of my clients have a net worth of over 2 million euro. I manage multiple accounts and policies for nearly all of my clients, but it is sometimes hard to show them how they are related to one another. CiFiCo helps me do that by placing them all on a timeline and show how they grow, or dwindle, from one year to the next. I need to start taking advantage of the advanced options that allow me to account for different types of real estate properties, insurance policies, etc.”

“Many of my clients travel for extended periods of time, so setting up a face-to-face meeting to discuss their finances and future planning efforts can be challenging. I love CiFiCo's Narrate feature because it allows for the same type of movie control and callouts (e.g. pause, zoom, etc.) that I can do when someone is sitting in front of me.”

Will [often] do the following:

-   -   Develop several movies at a time for a specific client and begin         to play-out different financial scenarios before it is shown to         a client.     -   Experiment with the Narrate function and use various playback         controls to highlight certain areas and moments of a client's         movie.     -   Begin to input Real Estate and Life Insurance data using the         Table Entry functions.

Tom N.

Program Manager at a government consulting firm in Herndon, Va.; looking to show his team and upper management the growth potential during the past fiscal year; wants to highlight potential hurdles that may impact their operating budget from quarter-to-quarter.

Target Audience: U.S. and International Public Interest Groups: Businesses and Commercial Organizations Audience Type: Advanced User

“I attended a software development tradeshow a few months ago and came across CiFiCo. It looked very professional and, at first, I thought it was only for people in the financial world—like my accountant or financial advisor. But, I was told that CiFiCo can accommodate any type of financial situation, including business growth, obstacles, etc.”

“I've created a few movies already and I've got to say, this is addicting. My division experienced considerable growth last quarter, and I really like showing my team how that impacts our budget for the next year. Upper management might not be so impressed so I really need to begin to play with some of the movie controls, callouts, design options, etc.”

“CiFiCo has already helped me adjust some of my contingency budgets based on some future forecasting and planning using WEFs. Our business might encounter a hurdle in a year or two, so it's nice to play that out now so we can become a little more proactive.”

Will [often] do the following:

-   -   Develop several movies at a time and begin to play-out different         financial scenarios before it is shown to anyone.     -   Experiment with various playback controls to highlight certain         areas and moments of their movies.     -   Modify both application and WEF defaults.

Gina A.

Registered financial advisor at a mid-level financial institution in Houston, Tex.; looking to refine her knowledge of the finance sector and introduce client's to new products and services using CiFiCo's wide-array of planning and financial product abilities; an early technology adopter, she is starting to use the mobile version of CiFiCo more than the Web-based option.

Target Audience: U.S. and International Financial Advisors, Registered Representatives, and Insurance Agents Audience Type: Super User

“I've been using CiFiCo for a while now and started to understand the relationships between the various fields throughout the application—if I create a new Income, I understand that a Volatility WEF may impact it, but I can potentially counteract that by adjusting for inflation or adding a Miscellaneous Account. I'm glad to see the ability to use a Table Entry to add Life Insurance Policy information, and I'm going to make some complex policy adjustments using it tonight. It's great to see the level of control I have over the type and make-up of any type of account”

“I find that the bulk of my movies all use the same set of application defaults, except for the default retirement and death ages. I also always include a Tax Change and Wills and Trust WEF; I will turn those on for every movie I create.”

Will [often] do the following:

-   -   Develop several movies at a time for a specific client and begin         to play-out different financial scenarios before it is shown to         a client.     -   Modify both application and WEF defaults.     -   Use the advanced input options for the Table Entry functions.     -   Utilize all of the basic and advanced input fields throughout         the application to account for a variety of traditional and         unconventional accounts and policies.     -   Modify the application's and individual movie's look-and-feel.

Simon T.

CIO of a Fortune 100 company from New York, N.Y.; looking to invest in an easy-to-use yet robust future forecasting platform for the company's 10,000 plus agents and representatives.

Target Audience: U.S. and International Financial Advisors, Registered Representatives, and Insurance Agents Audience Type: Information Seeker

“We are a Fortune 100 financial institution, serving individual consumers, small- and middle-market businesses, and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial products and services. Our company has been in business for well over 100 years and the way we do business hasn't changed since our founding—that's a problem. We're looking to implement a future planning application that will help our clients understand their total asset portfolio, financial strength, and potential pitfalls they may encounter on their financial roads.”

“Our agents and representatives vary wildly in terms of computer savviness and experimentation. The application should be easy-to-use, accommodate a large number of traditional and unconventional accounts and policies, and be visually appealing. The easier and sexier the application, the more willing our agents will be to incorporate it into their day-to-day operations.”

“From a business standpoint, I'm concerned with the ability to manage access to authorized agents and representatives of our company. It would be nice if we could add or remove specific and proprietary options and products to the software that are only available to our users.”

Will [often] do the following:

-   -   Look at the application's total user requirements, minimum         system spec requirements, and other technical features.     -   Try to gain a complete understanding of the application's         various input controls and possibilities while determining if         the visual nature of the product and its output (e.g. movies)         can revolutionize their business practices and people's         understanding of financial data.     -   Spend no more than 10-15 minutes, on first-take, examining the         total breadth of the products and services the application can         take into account. 

1. A computerized method, comprising: presenting an entity's financial information using animation.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the animation comprises a plurality of animated graphical characters.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the presenting comprises animating the financial information along one or more timelines, the timelines labeled with units of measurement representing an entity's lifespan and wherein multiple timelines can be used and placed in relation to each other to demonstrate additional entity's life spans or generation's life spans or combinations of both.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the animation visually demonstrates assets and liabilities.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein images of the animation change by expansions, contractions, divisions, inflows and outflows that represent changes in value of the entity's financial information, creation, or disappearance of the images, or combinations thereof.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the animation visually demonstrates risks and defenses wherein the risks and defenses are intervening factors that alter values of the entity's financial information.
 7. A method of presenting an entity's financial information, comprising: receiving input data associated with the entity's financial information; generating, by a computer, an animated representation of the entity's financial information along one or more determined timelines employing a plurality of graphical characters based on the input data; and displaying the animated representation.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the generating comprises generating moving images of the plurality of graphical characters changing to represent changes in the entity's financial information.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the graphical characters represent assets and liabilities, and the graphical characters changing comprises the graphical characters expanding, contracting, exploding, melting into one another, dividing, changing texture, changing permeability, or changing color, or combinations thereof, to represent changes in the assets and liabilities over time.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the one or more timelines comprises a timeline that represents the entity's lifespan.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the one or more timelines further comprises a generational timeline representing a lifespan of earlier or later generation to the entity's lifespan.
 12. The method of claim 10, wherein the graphical characters further comprise a meridian line that travels through the center of the graphical characters that represent assets, and wherein the meridian line together with the graphical characters that represent assets move along the timeline to represent passage of time.
 13. The method of claim 10, wherein the graphical characters further comprise a barrier membrane that represents how well protected the graphical characters that represent assets are from a wealth eroding factor attack, a level of protection represented graphically by a degree of thickness of the barrier membrane.
 14. The method of claim 10, wherein the graphical characters further comprise a visual membrane representing tax that the graphical characters that represent assets pass through at a specified time.
 15. The method of claim 10, wherein the graphical characters further comprise a traveling membrane that appears or disappears according to its defensive quality to wealth eroding factor attack.
 16. The method of claim 10, wherein the graphical characters further comprise an income river and a feeder tube connecting the income river to the graphical characters that represent assets, to animate income flow.
 17. The method of claim 10, wherein the graphical characters further comprise a character representing a wealth eroding factor, the character representing the wealth eroding factor animated to attack the graphical characters that represent assets.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the graphical characters further comprise a drain tube connecting the character representing the wealth eroding factor and one or more of the graphical characters that represent assets, to animate draining of an asset.
 19. The method of claim 10, wherein the graphical characters that represent assets further contain sub-characters to represent different types of assets.
 20. The method of claim 10, wherein the graphical characters that represent assets further contain a visual representation associated with secondary value of a corresponding asset.
 21. The method of claim 10, wherein the graphical characters further comprise visual tax bubble characters that represent taxes and visual money bubble characters that represent sum of money.
 22. The method of claim 10, wherein the graphical characters further comprise one or more pools that represent respective one or more sums of values.
 23. The method of claim 10, further including: providing a movie control panel to enable controlling the displaying of the animated representation, including pausing, rewinding, fast-forwarding, zooming-in and zoomng-out.
 24. The method of claim 7, wherein the animated representation demonstrates an impact associated with asset accumulation, distribution, taxes, insurance, investments, or intergenerational transfers, or combinations there over a specified period of time.
 25. A computer storage medium comprising computer instructions for performing a method of presenting an entity's financial information, the method comprising: receiving input data associated with the entity's financial information; generating, by a computer, an animated representation of the entity's financial information along one or more determined timelines employing a plurality of graphical characters based on the input data; and displaying the animated representation.
 26. The computer storage medium of claim 25, wherein the generating comprises generating moving images of the plurality of graphical characters changing and interacting to represent changes in the entity's financial information.
 27. A system for presenting an entity's financial information, comprising: a processor; a module operable to execute on the processor and further operable to receive input data associated with the entity's financial information, the module further operable to generate an animated representation of the entity's financial information along one or more determined timelines employing a plurality of graphical characters based on the input data, the module further operable to display the animated representation. 